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Rear Admiral Colin Chinn was recently announced as the keynote speaker for Salus University’s 127th commencement ceremony at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023, at the Kimmel Cultural Center in Philadelphia.
“I am absolutely honored and thrilled that my good friend and colleague Colin Chinn has agreed to be our guest speaker and we can recognize his contributions to both military and civilian medicine during our upcoming commencement ceremony,” said Salus president Michael H. Mittelman, OD ‘80, MPH, MBA, FAAO, FACHE.
A native of San Francisco, Rear Adm. Chinn graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in public health and received a master’s degree in epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in 1982.
After his commissioning as an ensign in the Navy in 1981, he attended the Medical College of Virginia through the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program and earned a Doctor of Medicine in 1985. He completed an internal medicine internship and residency at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California serving as chief medical resident in 1990. Dr. Chinn completed gastroenterology fellowship training at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego in 1993.
Since completing his medical training, Dr. Chinn has served his country both domestically and overseas in a number of roles, including as director of Tricare Region West/Pacific, chief of the Navy Medical Corps, United States Pacific Command surgeon, and as the dual-hatted director of the Research and Development Directorate (J9) of the Defense Health Agency and U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command deputy commander. He served as the acting deputy director of the Defense Health Agency.
Dr. Chinn is the Joint Staff surgeon at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. He also served as the chief medical advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, providing advice to the chairman, the Joint Staff, and the combatant commanders. He coordinated all issues related to health services including operational medicine, force health protection, and readiness among the combatant commands, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the services.
“I am certain that the message Dr. Chinn has for our graduates as well as those faculty and staff in attendance will be exceptionally relevant and well-received. We can’t wait to host Colin and his wife Eiko,” said Dr. Mittelman.
